Faceless could be Face saving!

@Thanks, Sify

A welcome measure from the Government of India!

 

Something that taxpayers can feel good about. Let us make a list of what are the good things that can come out of it, if this scheme is implemented in the letter and spirit of what it says.

 

1.     One of the dirtiest words in tax collection is Harassment of taxpayer. A tax officer meets a taxpayer and goes through the accounts submitted by him. Identifies a mistake in the calculations. Bargains for personal gains and closes the case as all clear once his requirement is met. In most cases, the ‘mistake’ is more conceptual than real. A lay man could easily misinterpret the statutes while the officer whose job is to interpret the law, does so to his advantage, leaving out the spirit of the statute!

 

Most of these happen only when the officer meets the taxpayer in person and finds that the person is gullible. Identifies him as a source to meet his needs. When personal meetings do not happen, the chance that an officer could harass a taxpayer comes down drastically. Therefore, this would be the major gain out of the faceless tax processing.

 

2.      Pay the right tax! Since the processing is done by multiple number of officers at different locations, unknown to the taxpayer and the taxpayer is also invisible to the officer, the orders that they raise would be more in line with the tax laws and not just an order siding with the ‘revenue’ of the department.

 

3.     Quick processing of claims and counter claims. This would ensure that document submission happens over the net and there is no need to travel, make copies, submit ‘books’ to the department! All this would ensure that there is not much of time and money taken for the processing. There were days when every new process introduced by the government would mean additional work to the taxpayer! Even now, just look at what is happening in GST. Every additional feature only requires the taxpayer to work more. Submit more information, tally his information with that of the tax collector and his remittances! More responsibilities and more work. 

 

It is only rightly expected that the faceless would, if not remove, at least reduce the drudgery of working for ‘paying more tax’! This is an oxymoron of action. Something like standing in a queue for three hours to pay a tax! Hope this would lessen the amount of work that taxpayers do!

 

4.     There were days when taxpayers were harassed, just because, he did not ‘visit’ the officer when he called. Literally, taxpayers were at the beck and call of the officers in the department. A time is fixed at the convenience of the tax officer. If due to any reason, the taxpayer is unable to uphold the schedule, be sure, the notice could turn out to be an order! Or there are also instances when taxpayers have to wait in front of the officer’s room for hours because they have an internal meeting. Taxpayer was the last priority for the meeting! 

 

Are there not anything negative in the faceless process? Is it all hula-bula? Having known the ‘capabilities’ of our tax department in converting even the most positive action to a thoroughly negative system, we can expect this to shape up into another of those ignominious tools.

 

Most officers are ‘result’ oriented. Result here generally means ‘increasing revenue’. Let us face the truth. The officers of the department are also hapless souls like the poor taxpayers, who have to bring more revenue!

 

Given this situation, the obvious thing that could happen is, if A recommends that the file be closed, B might find a way to charge him a little more tax than what A identified just to prove he is better than the other, in interpreting the law to the department’s favor! Ideally, when the papers are shifted from one person to another, it would be right not club the other officer’s order along. 

 

It should be independently evaluated by A and by B. And no comparison of A and B should be possible by either of them or by the department! Only then justice will be done to the taxpayer.

 

If all of these are done in the letter and spirit of this game changing tax reform, then the faceless system could be really face saving for all of us!!